EPA Selects Communities for Greening Project Initiatives

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected the five state capital cities that will receive greening assistance through the Greening America’s Capitals project. The green development of Boston, Mass.; Charleston, W. Va. Hartford, Conn.; Jefferson City, Mo.; and Little Rock, Ark., will include cleaning up and recycling vacant lands, accessing and improving waterways, providing greater housing and transportation choices, and reducing infrastructure and energy costs.

The EPA will organize teams of urban planners and landscape architects to provide direct, customized technical assistance as requested by each community. Greening America’s Capitals is not a grant; it provides direct technical assistance to communities by working with private-sector experts and leveraging other partners, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), to consider implementation options and help develop an implementable vision of distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods that incorporate innovative green-building and green-infrastructure strategies.

This program will assist three to five communities per year. The EPA will fund a team of designers to visit each city to produce schematic designs and illustrations intended to catalyze or complement a larger planning process for pilot neighborhoods. Additionally, these communities could be the testing grounds for citywide actions, such as changes to local codes and ordinances to better support sustainable growth and green building. The design team and EPA, HUD, and DOT staffs also will assist the city in developing specific implementation strategies.

The competition for this design assistance was open to all 50 state capital cities, plus the District of Columbia.

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